As a dedicated Android user, I resent every minute I have to spend learning how to manipulate Apple products in order to support my patients. 
I think they’re starting to converge though. Like DSL and NAL. Humans are figuring out, on average, where they want their menus to be and what sort of swiping is intuitive.
But I still find Apple seems to demand two hands compared to my only-right-thumb-required preference. [This message brought to you by only my right thumb.]
Phonak’s official estimates for runtime for the Marvel’s with various amounts of streaming are given in the following post: Phonak unveils Lumity hearing aid platform - #73 by jim_lewis. I don’t think the overall average runtime for the average user has changed at all going from Marvel to Paradise to Lumity: 18 hours, obviously with a decent amount of streaming.
Runtime for any hearing aid will depend on one’s hearing loss plus how noisy the environment is plus how much streaming you do, etc. So, it’s a YMMV sort of situation for any hearing aid wearer of any brand.
Edit_Update: I thought I read an article several days ago that said simultaneous multi-device connectivity was coming to MFi devices in iOS 16.1 (but it would only work with Apple devices). Can’t find that article again or any reference to such connectivity in iOS 16.1 beta feature descriptions so I must be mistaken.
If you ‘Enable Gabeldorsche’ under Developer Options on Android 12 that can fix the one sided battery drain issue.
Audiologist finally showed up with my Lumity Life HAs:
Lumity use version 4.0 receivers, so the same three pin connector as Audeo P Life HAs.
Wanted to post another short update about Lumity and Bluetooth integration. Wondering if the issue I am observing is the same with the Paradise hearing aids.
So I mentioned earlier that Lumity allows two simultaneous Bluetooth connections and that I’ve got my Lumity L90-RT hearing aids connected to both my Dell work laptop and my iPhone 11 Pro Max at the same time. For the most part, everything works great. The one issue I have now noticed is that whenever I am connected to my Dell laptop and I am on a live Microsoft Teams call, the myPhonak app on my iPhone will NOT connect to the Lumity hearing aids. What this means is that you cannot use the myPhonak app while the hearing aids are connected to another device. Not sure if this is a bug or just a limitation of Phonak’s implementation of classic bluetooth. If you go into the bluetooth settings on the iPhone (while on a Teams call on the laptop), you can see that the iPhone is no longer connected to the hearing aids via classic bluetooth (for voice channel) or bluetooth LE (for the myPhonak app). It’s not a big deal but it basically means you cannot use the myPhonak app to adjust anything when the hearing aids are connected elsewhere.
Anyone using Paradise notice the same thing?
Jordan
Teams uses the Phone Call program.
That program will not allow you to access the App when using that program.
Even Marvel don’t allow it.
You can use it when listening to music. Music uses a different program.
Thanks for the info. The reason I asked the question is that it’s sometimes useful to be able to mute the external microphones on the hearing aids when you are on a Teams or Zoom call on a laptop. I can do this with my Quattro’s when I’m on a Teams call while working in a noisy environment. Also allows you to adjust bass/mid/treble, etc. I guess this is one of the limitations of classic bluetooth.
Jordan
You can’t mute the Mics on phone calls on Phonak.
Software can only be set to -6 dB on the Mics max.
You can mute on music. Again different programs.
If the right box if ticked in the software, you’ll be able to hold down the lower button to mute on the Aids rather then use the App all the time but will only work for music.
If your trying to make adjustments through the App, this is LE Audio not classic, so like the ReSound App your using LE Audio to make the adjustments, why you can’t use LE Audio and classic Bluetooth at the same time must have something to do with teams, just as @Zebras states, but why can’t you use A2DP in a certain program and only HFP on your PC with Teams? Or is there something else going on.
This could be due to how the audio devices are configured in the application he’s using. I don’t have BT aids yet but if the implementation is the same as the Compilot II (and I believe it is) then if both output and input are set to the HAs then it will use HFP (low quality mono audio, HA acts as mic input), but if it’s set to use the laptop’s internal microphone as input then the HAs should use A2DP instead (high quality stereo, doesn’t use HA mic). I don’t use Teams so I can’t comment on that specifically, but most video-conferencing programs should let you change the input and output devices.
I suspect, but have no way of knowing, that the comment about setting different attenuation levels of the hearing aid mics depending on the program is actually related to the devices using HFP vs A2DP.
I just hit the 10 day point for testing the Phonak Lumity P90-RT hearing aids and I’m actually quite pleased with how well I am hearing with these hearing aids. I’ve got another appointment with my audiologist on Monday morning to get fitted with the new Resound Omnia equivalents to the Lumity L90. My audiologist wants me to take both home to test and compare. I thought I would post a quick summary of my observations over the last 10 days before I start testing the Resound Omnia’s on Monday. Here are my thoughts on the Lumity:
The sound from these hearing aids is superb…and that is really what matters the most. It’s hard to point at any one thing as it appears there are improvements across the board. I like these hearing aids and will consider purchasing them if the Omnia’s fall short. Here are some thoughts I can share:
Environmental Sounds: I find the sound from these hearing aids to be very natural and there are many things in my daily sound environment that I am now hearing again. Everything from the furnace going on in the basement to an airplane flying by overhead, birds chirping, cars driving by…the list goes on. It just seems I am hearing more things than I used to with my Resound Quattro’s. I don’t know if the Lumity hearing aids were just setup better or whether they are have made significant improvements to how sound is processed. I will just say that I am hearing more. I will also say that at no time over the last 10 days did anything sound tinny or unnatural. Hearing is normal sounding and I actually didn’t even notice a transition between the Quattro’s and the Lumity’s. When in the automatic mode, these hearing aids shift seamlessly through the different programs and you rarely notice a change.
Speech: Speech understanding is also improved across the board. I am having fewer issues hearing people speak. I am having better comprehension in noisy environments too. Much easier to hear people who are sitting beside me in the car or talking to me from either side while sitting on the sofa. The hearing aids seem to adapt well to just about any listening environment and I rarely had to change programs to find improvement or rely on reading lips to sort out what people where saying. I would say the only environment where I didn’t see a huge improvement was sitting in a noisy restaurant with multiple conversations going on at the same table. The scenario is 3 couples all sitting at the same table and multiple conversations going on back and forth. With Lumity, I have no issue hearing the people beside me quite clearly but Lumity (and probably any hearing aids) can’t cope well with multiple conversations all coming from the same direction. One on one conversations in bad noise are fine and definitely improved. When you have too many conversations all coming at the same time from the same direction, I guess nothing will really help.
Music: This is an area that is significantly improved. Music sounds fantastic again through these hearing aids. Not sure why but there is more bass and dynamic range. Phonak seems to have done something to the music program and IMHO, they have nailed it. Music on Lumity is significantly better than Quattro and close to the quality of wireless earbuds. May just be the RICs have improved and the frequency range is better. Would love someone else testing these hearing aids to confirm this.
Bluetooth: Surprisingly good. Maybe the iPhone integration isn’t quite a good as my Quattro’s with MFI but the sound quality through the Lumity’s was better. The bluetooth connection was rock solid and I don’t think I experienced a single dropped call on any device. There was also the ability to connect to Apple, Android and Windows and they all worked well. I had no issues connecting to my work Windows laptop (less than a year old) with the native bluetooth built into the laptop. No need to buy a third party bluetooth dongle and no issues with sound and lips being out of sync. iPhone was rock solid with Lumity and that was a key thing for me testing non-MFI hearing aids for the first time.
Other Stuff: The app is still a bit buggy and hopefully they will push out some updates to solve some of the small bugs with the hearing aids not remembering setting changes via the app. The charger is nice and compact but it would be nice to have a battery in the charger in case you want to charge the hearing aids on a flight, etc. Battery life for Lumity seems to be in the 18-24 hour range. I didn’t experience a single day where I ran out of batteries but there were a few days where I was down to 10-20%. Might be an issue for those who have jobs with long hours.
All in all, a great experience and I was impressed. My hearing and comprehension is better and that is the most important thing. Looking forward to a direct comparison between Lumity and Omnia next week and I will definitely post my observations comparing the two.
Very interested in getting feedback from others testing both platforms.
Jordan
Matthew Allsop in his YouTube Hearing Tracker review mentions that the Lumity Life (the “waterproof” version of the Lumity with induction charging, no contacts) can be used with a Phonak charging case that has a battery that holds 3 full charges. So, maybe if you decide to go with the Lumity, your audi could let you trial the Life version if that’s not what you’re trialing already, and you could get the charging case with the battery. Allsop’s review of the Lumity is pretty good. The one thing that he didn’t like about the Lumity is that he says Phonak’s implementation of handsfree locks you into using the HA mics, which can be difficult for your caller is you’re in a noisy environment. He mentions that MFi HA’s have the option of switching back to the phone mic, which if you speak into that directly will relay less surrounding noise in a noisy environment to your caller.
Currently have the Lumity L-90 RLs for a 15 day trial. Only two days in I’m extremely impressed. I play a lot of acoustic guitar and the sound is very natural. Music over the stereo system sounds great also. The tapping features work well but are not a must have for me. The induction charging case is really nice. No contacts involved. I’ll probably go with Lumity but will scale back to L70 orL50. I am concerned that with the L50 I drop the music function.
Here’s a link to an earlier post in this same topic showing what you will drop. I think you will drop most (or maybe even all) of the new features! Then (since the new features are software-changes and not hardware-changes) your new Lumity hearing aids will be the same as Paradise hearing aids.
Yep, but not really an issue.
Thank you for this update. I’m a S2P long time Oticon user with poor word discrimination. My occupation requires being able to communicate in loud kitchen bar stadium environments both in person and on the phone. My 4.5 year experience with OPN 1 has not been good regarding feedback, poor phone streaming with Connect Clip and Android phone, poor voice clarity in noise. A recent month long demo with MORE 1 resulted in zero feedback using my old 105 dB acrylic encased powermolds, greatly improved phone streaming due to the software reducing the microphone input /ambient sounds resulting in enhanced phone streaming, good soft and average speech clarity …but the deal breaker is still no improvement with clarity in noise despite REM and numerous adjustments. Oticon brain hearing paradigm just never was for me. I returned the Mores and had impression$ made for Phonak ultra power c shells for a demo of the new RIC Phonak Lumity. Your experience is encouraging to me to know that the Autosense and Stereo zoom transition smoothly, phone streaming is good in noise and they perform as advertised. Regarding the new My Phonak app I like the many options available should I need to work around Autosense. All in all I’m a tough fit but think I might like these.
Quick follow up…
Went to a loud steakhouse for dinner tonight with two other couples. This time we sat facing across from each other and I put Lumity’s into the “Speech in Loud Noise” program (StereoZoom 2.0). They actually did really well and I had no issues understanding everyone at the table. I would definitely say these hearing aids provide an improvement in very noisy environments but you still have to plan where you sit in the restaurant to get better results. I can live with that. It will be interesting to see how Resound Omnia does in the same restaurant.
Jordan
In the ReSound Smart Fit software, there is a series of engineered audio recordings of a couple in a bistro with the noise in the recording of equal loudness to the conversation, the same recording with the noise 5 dB below the conversation, and another recording with noise 10 dB below the conversation. The male voice is easy to understand, the female voice much harder, plus a female waitress’s voice that’s easier to understand than the female diner.
If my audi does allow me to trial both the Omnia and the Lumity, I’m planning testing both brands sitting at a fixed position in my kitchen in front of my computer speakers with the same running vacuum cleaner or similar noisy device at fixed distances besides me and behind me to see how well I can make out the voices in the different bistro recordings when using both Omnias and the Lumities.
The goal would be to have a highly reproducible test situation. I guess it’s still a pretty subjective test as I’ve listened to the recordings quite a few times in the past and I won’t have anyone scoring word recognition to phrases I’ve never heard before. Since my annual ear exam and cleaning aren’t scheduled until the end of November, it will probably be at least December before I start trialing any HA. Jordan’s review of the Lumity has been great and I hope other folks trialing either of these HA’s will chime in, too. It will make the time until December go faster! And maybe an Oticon More update will come along, too, in the meantime!
I’m really glad the Lumity continues to pleasantly surprise you. May I ask, what factors do you consider when planning where you sit in complex listening environments?
My issue is getting scheduled with the audiologist. I had to wait 3 weeks for an updated hearing test. At which point, I ordered my Lumity - choosing telecoil. But I have to wait a month for my first fitting appointment.
Meanwhile my marvels are 4 years old and I struggle to hear increasingly. Cant wait for my 10/26 fitting!
Thanks for providing feedback, everyone. I was holding out with the desire that the next platform might address hearing speech in noisy and challenging environments. So I am glad I waited for Lumity to get released!